How Silencing Logic Will Help You Bounce Back

What doesn’t kill you, inspires you to try again.

Pic by Tj Holowaychuk

“Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.” — Robert Kiyosaki

During times of hardship, our brain defaults to logical thinking. By trying to protect ourselves we default to obvious, yet dangerous, solutions.

That’s why the Royal Air Force was caught by surprise by Abraham Wald’s recommendation to one of World War II biggest challenges.

The statistician was hired to help the British decide where to add armor to the RAF bombers. His counterintuitive solution saved more lives than any logical approach would.

Wald didn’t advise adding armor where the bullet holes were. Against all conventional wisdom, he recommended protecting those places that have not been hit.

The mathematician simply wondered where the “missing bullet holes” were. He realized that they were on the missing planes. The British bombers that were shot down were most probably hit in the engine. That’s why they didn’t come back.

While everyone’s logic was to protect the area that was hit, W…